Exhausted by COVID-19 fight, Lebanese nurses want pay not praise

Exhausted by COVID-19 fight, Lebanese nurses want pay not praise

As Lebanon's economy sinks into a crippling depression, it is the frontline heroes who helped the country battle the COVID-19 crisisthat is bearing the brunt; with redundancies forcing nurses out of jobs and into unemployment, according to a nursing chapter in the Middle Eastern nation.

Lebanon's economy began collapsing in 2019; a crisis made worse by nationwide anti-government protests, the coronavirus pandemic and the August 4 Beirut blast; a triple whammy which has brought the country to its knees.

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It means Lebanon is facing a dangerous depletion of resources, or a "brain drain“, warns Dr Myrna Doumit, president of Order of Nurses in Lebanon.

According to Dr Doumit, nurses are being laid off by private hospitals across the country, as part of cost-cutting measures as finance-stricken businesses look to balance their books.

About 600 nurses - those who have been at the frontline to treat patients suffering with COVID-19 - have been laid off over the past year, she said. Those remaining are at risk of burn-out.

"Hospitals have downsized and laid off nurses,“ said Dr Doumit. "The nurses that are left are exhausted. They have either had COVID-19or treated those with COVID-19 and now a smaller pool